Sorry, I don’t see room for compromise here. Portals are already a pain in the…oort to make and maintain. People are creating a fix that lacks a problem.
There is zero credibile reason to restrict portal use. None.
I guess our disconnect comes from considering any particular planet as end game. I don’t see a need for there to be an end game in boundless. You can do anything once you hit the mid teens or so, it just gets easier as you level. If someone wants to go to a level 7 or 8 planet as soon as they get the correct protection and food, more power to them. Who am I to say they shouldn’t be allowed to go somewhere they might die over and over?
I also don’t see why everyone is so caught up in trying to stop others from playing the game the way they want. A new player going to a level 8 planet doesn’t hurt anyone else in any way. I don’t think we should design systems that prevents others progression under the pretext of knowing what is better for them. The game currently doesn’t hold your hand, which is something I appreciate. I would have been kind of annoyed if I hadn’t been able to go to shedu tier when it came out on my level 17 gatherer. I survived there just fine.
TL:DR My two cents to the devs is to not put up more walls in the sandbox then are needed. Let people play their game.
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How do you find them a pain to make and maintain? We have been putting out a request basket and fill it with coins and price them at 180 buy and have them filled over night, generally. That seems to do well at lasting for weeks on end for several portals as long as you have a way to continue to generate coins be it selling things or hunting things to sell things or making things to sale things.
Off the top of my head, yes, there is. Portals hurt the economy, a lot. Prices on almost everything have been dropping drastically as time goes forward because portals make it simple to travel to destinations and mass farm loot or find the store that is selling things cheaper. It is now easier and cheaper to outright buy Power Coils than it is to make them yourself these days.
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Don’t need portal blocks to go to high tier planets. Can use warp conduit.
I can’t really navigate the search feature on this particular forum software very well, but I could find at least one relevant quote:
Continuing the discussion from Welcome to the Launch Universe!:
It doesn’t mention portal networks specifically, but I do recall that the dev team mentioned at some point that they wanted the early access backers to build up all the infrastructure so that the 1.0 players would have access to it, making their early game less painful. It was sort of a challenge issued to the backers that participated in the headstart. This included portal networks. 
I’m sure someone more proficient than I with the forum search could fetch some quotes to that effect.
So I really doubt that portal networks are something that surprised the devs, or went against their intended course of player progression. And if it did, I’ll happily admit that I was wrong.
Would be interesting if a dev could chime in. @james is an avid forum reader if I recall, it would be cool if he (or anyone from the dev team) would chime in on this.
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A large number of portal networks means more access for NEW players too. Access to different planets, access to a large number of shops to buy their gathers and sell them tools. More networks isn’t a bad thing, especially for the new players. Experienced players can just ignore the networks if they want to go it alone - each planet has a lot of room for those who hate the networks to just set up their own warps or use Sanctum to get around.
Note, I’m a member of PortalSeekers. My opinion is definitely biased. However the points I’m making here about new players are from my own experience BEFORE I joined them. Had it not been for the Ultima and PS networks, I’d have given up since getting from planet to planet any other way sucks up coin like mad.
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I actually agree with you lol. I enjoy the freedom of going where i want to farm this specific item or that. I mean once we get there it’s still a grind to get the items you need. I’m just trying to look at it from the view of people in favor of restricting access as well.
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That is helping the economy, though. Economies are always going to trend towards efficiency. What you (assuming you are a seller) are calling for is some form of protectionism to keep prices artificially high.
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Portals have been port of the game and part of the advertising for the game for a long time. It is one of the things that makes the game unique. You do not need to build a ship to change planets. There are temporary (Warp Conduit) and permanent solutions (Portal conduit as long as it is fueled). No one has to use the portals networks. Everyone can play the game the way they want to. If they want to warp everywhere they can, if they want to use the portal networks they can. The developers had stated prior to release that they wanted it to be possible for an individual to run a portal with some effort. So a group can run more than one with some effort. That is what is happening and what was happening in early release, so I believe the mechanic is being used in a way the developers intended as far as the released game.
Does this mean the people that start playing after initial release have a different experience? Yes it does. The existing of the networks does offer a new player access to a mode of transportation that the people who started early did not have. Does this bother me? Personally no. There are a number of things newer players will never experience the same way. Stores have all the possible items already in stock, the locations for resources are already mapped and information is available, and players already have large and small builds across the universe. This is the way it is in an MMO so I do not think this is a reason to make any changes to portals or prevent portal networks.
I am not a seller, actually :-p I have a store in Boori, but all I sell there are materials I do not use. But yeah, by “hurting the economy” I am referring to how the economy is a game to play. It is a feature of this game that keeps players interested. If all the prices drop to points where anybody can buy anything with ease, then the economy is not a game anymore.
The alternative is to completely destroy the in game economy. Just a couple weeks ago those coils were twice the price.
Prices will fluctuate, it’s healthy. Those prices will go back up again.
And if you got rid of portal networks people would leave the game in droves…or demand an auction house which would be 1000 times worse.
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I am not advocating for the removal of portal networks. I am advocating for a compromise where Portal use is not as prolific as it is now.
That would have the same effect. People being able to jump from world to world is what keeps this game going.
Reduce the cost to warp if you want people to move away from portals.
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I do understand your position, but I think it is based on an assumption that most or a lot of players do not like the portal networks and I am not sure if that is a true statement or not.
A well used network encourages competition and the free flow of good between planets. It allows people to explore worlds. The developers have used other devices such as atmospheres to limit players time or access to the various planets to delay some of the exploration.
But if they make it hard to move from planet to planet then is the game really Boundless?
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Thanks @Simoyd for assuming my post was not meant as any ill-will towards PS or any other network/guild. I didn’t want my portal closed down 
Judging from the number of replies, I guess I accidentally hit a nerve within the community and it’s opinions on the current use of PNs. I hope we can keep the discussion civilized so that the devs can have some feedback as they continue to iterate on game mechanics.
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You’re further discussing a point that I’m not even discussing though. I have said, in this thread alone at least twice, that the current network should certainly stay how it is. I would like to see future planets and warping fleshed out in better detail and to make warping a better experience in the game. There’s no way we can pack up the portal networks now that they are out there. That’s just a nonstarter.
But since you’ve brought this up again, what the devs originally intended is besides the point. This is a sandbox game. It’s organic. Changes with every patch/update. My only request is that when they have the time, they do a pass over the travel system and find a way to make warping an alternatively good travel method. As it stands we have people like you and I who travel to a planet, sanctum, then warp out for cheapocheap to get away from the major areas that are mined out and save travel time so as to be more efficient. We used the portal systems at no cost to avoid the in some cases heavy taxes that can be associated with extensive long range warping. The discussion thread on warping solves a few of those issues and makes warp augments a completely new shop item to be fleshed out more with bonus’s and cons to them. It’s a whole different topic entirely which is why I made a completely different post but people continue to want to discuss it here.
The things that make Boundless what it is are footfall, prestige and portals and some people seem to want to gut all three.
If you hate the core concepts of the game, why do you play it?
Frankly, I’d get rid of taxes altogether. It’s pointless.
But that’s how economics works? And if prices eventually fall to the point where more people are participating, aren’t more people “playing the game” than less. Unless your specific definition of “playing the game” is buying things that are obviously under priced and selling them, but this only works if there is enough inefficiency in the system to allow for the under-selling player to be unaware/unable to sell to the higher-paying buyers.